'What Is Maturity'?

What does it mean to be "mature"? Bryan Kaplan of Econlog points out that simply defining maturity as "how much you act like an adult" is a bit unhelpful. Here are his suggestions:

Orientation toward work rather than play.

Taking a long-run view rather than acting impulsively or spontaneously.

Being serious rather than silly.

Identifying with--and taking the side of--older people.

Kaplan wonders whether, extrapolating from these criteria, we can determine certain groups--perhaps older individuals, individuals with higher levels of education, and women--to be more mature than others. He also opens the floor to readers: what is maturity?

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